As the popularity of owning polished gemstone jewelry has increased dramatically in the second half of the 20th century and since then, the relative importance of a gemstone to the overall net worth of gemstone buying population has increased. In particular, diamonds are no longer just baubles of the rich. As either a discretionary luxury item or an essential engagement ring, the cost of diamonds can be large relative to the household budget of the general population of buyers, but the value, especially the emotional value, can make one particular diamond, to one particular person, virtually priceless beyond monetary value altogether. Any lost or stolen diamond can be replaced quite easily, especially if it was insured by the owner. But, the loss of a diamond imbued with the sentiment of one's marriage commitment, or any one of the other innumerable special remembrances a person may have, is an emotional loss that cannot be filled by a substitute. While other gemstones such as sapphire, ruby, emerald, or tanzanite are not as valuable as diamond, they often hold strong sentimental value to the owner. This makes keeping one's gemstones safely in his or her possession at all times very important to the owner. Not that that would be a bad idea under any circumstance, but it points to two basic underlying facts. First, gemstone owners are just not able to pick their specific gemstone out of crowd of gemstones if they are substantially similar in size. Even if there are only two from which to choose it is very difficult. Second, due to the diamond grading system, diamonds that may appear to be generally similar in appearance, size, and description to the naked eye of a layman can be wildly dissimilar in dollar value. This difference gives a dishonest person motivation to try to switch one diamond for another, an inferior cheap one for a high quality valuable one, because the owner is unlikely to be able to tell the difference.
If gemstone owners could be certain to tell the difference between one gemstone and another, that is, if they could easily identify their own gemstone(s) versus all the others out in the universe, they would not only feel more comfortable wearing them in public and displaying them generally, but also in trusting them to the custody of a third party, such as a jeweler when they need to have their jewelry repaired or reset. Having the ability to identify a gemstone would be valuable to the consuming public just for the benefit of reducing the anxiety they feel about wearing a most prized possession. The idea that if their gemstone were ever lost or stolen, it might be recoverable because it is identifiable, or the notion that an unscrupulous jeweler wouldn't even attempt to deceive them because they would know it instantly, is a real and knowable benefit to the average consumer. Having such ability would also have a real monetary benefit in lower insurance premiums, or even recovery of a lost or stolen item, as well as the protection it would give the owner against being the victim of an outright fraud.
Attempts to create methods of identifying one gemstone from another have been ongoing. At the most advanced level, polished diamonds are sent to grading laboratories where trained technicians, using microscopes and their subjective judgment, based on their training and years of experience, will describe each diamond in terms of a grade on a number of commonly observable characteristics. This is generally referred to as the four Cs grade of the diamond, color, cut, clarity and carat weight. When this analysis includes mapping of the natural flaws in the diamond material itself, that is, when there are observable flaws to be seen, it allows a pretty good method of identifying one diamond from another. However, it is not practical for a consumer to learn or practice diamond grading, it is an expense every time it is performed by the laboratory, and it is time consuming, taking weeks to get results. And of course it requires the owner to let the gem out of his or her possession for all that time, to an extent defeating the entire purpose of having the gem verified in the first place. Moreover, if the diamond has no flaws or only slight flaws, discriminating one versus another of similar grade can be very difficult.
The other most common approach to doing field identification of diamonds is to simply mark them in such a way as to be unique, such as with a readable serial number or a symbol. There are at least two common methods of accomplishing this marking: laser engraving the girdle, that is, the equator or waist line of the diamond, and plasma etching or engraving a surface, most commonly the table surface or top usually flat facet of the diamond. Both of these methods have certain practical flaws.
With laser engraving the inscription is very small, requiring magnification to be visible. The printing itself is a very crude burning process which is difficult to read. Further, it is quite easy and inexpensive to remove a laser mark and to produce another mark of the same exact type. This means swapping a diamond with a laser engraved serial number on it is no substantial barrier. Additionally, once the diamond is mounted in a ring or jewelry, the mounting prongs will many times block the inscription from view, so even if a consumer were are able to magnify the image large enough to read, which is not particularly easy, the consumer still may not be able to see it.
The other alternative, plasma etching or engraving of the table, results in a marking that is also not easily readable without significant magnification. Although special inexpensive inscription viewers have been developed for consumers, such a viewer may not always be on the person when the person may be desire to use it. And though the inscription is not easily removed, and it is not easily duplicated (it is often impossible to duplicate), it is still not widely adopted by the jewelry industry. This can be because of a number of factors, including that it is a new technology, that it is relatively costly to apply in small quantities, and that it is not widely available as it requires very expensive high-technology equipment and skilled technicians. There is also an industry bias, and from there a consumer bias, against the idea of etching the top surface of a diamond, because of the perception that it could harm the value of the diamond. This bias can usually be overcome by educating consumers about the benign nature of this technique.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,468,786 and 8,035,807, which are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety, and invented by the same inventors as the present invention and owned by the same assignee, disclose a less expensive and more effective viewer (referred to hereinafter as an Engraved Gemstone Viewer) using the concept of illuminating the surface of the polished diamond in such a way as to create a spectral light reflection much like that of a mirror. The Engraved Gemstone Viewer is effective but lacks the convenience of being with the person at all times that engraving might be needed to be viewed, and further, lacks a way to memorize the image for later recall, comparison analysis, or remote communication of the information contained in the image.
Thus, there is a need for a gemstone identification system that is accurate over 90% of the time; is easy to use by the general public without special skills or training; is deployable on short time notice and produces results quickly; has a method of recording data for later recall and communication to third parties, such as the police; does not change or alter the gemstone in a detrimental way; is not be easily defeated or susceptible to fraud; is conveniently and widely available to consumers; and is inexpensive.